Robert’s Midweek Message: Why is a high view of Genesis so important for humans?

Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”

Genesis 1:27

Human life is important. To be completely honest, I would like the highest view possible in my life. A high importance on human life is observed in most worldviews, current, and past, but only one worldview gives humanity the support to keep life genuinely sacred. This worldview, I would argue, is the Christian one. Only the biblical account of creation in Genesis gives humans sufficient reasons to hold life important – the “let us make” formula and the Image of God.

The “Let there be…” and “Let us make” formula. In the Genesis creation account in chapter one, every new day of creation starts with God saying, “Let there be” – he simply spoke the universe into being, the vast expanses of space, our galaxy, the ocean, the land, all the living beings. Such a great and marvelous creation! God seems to be on a “let there be” roll, then in verse 26 he pauses, “Let us make human beings”. The original audience, and a concentrating 21st-century reader, of Genesis would have picked up this change and would have known that something different then the rest of creation is about to happen. God did not need any blueprint designs for the complexities and phenomena of the entire universe – but he gave humans a blueprint. Humanity was thought over by God – he stopped, paused, considered, then created: “So God created humans” (verse 27). What an amazing truth! God placed such a high significance of human life that he paused.

The Image of God. God created humanity differently than all of creation in more than one way, he also created us in God’s Image. A gift was given to no other creation. Humanity alone holds the character of God. Out of all the amazing and spectacular creatures, God chose humanity to fold the Imago Dei (Latin for Image of God). Therefore, we are not simply here due to time and change, nor are we here as a simple animal striving for survival – although life at times might seem like this. We were created with a purpose, we were created with a design. And we are still created with a design and purpose – this means that we can say with David “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.” (Psalm 139:13)

This significance God placed on humanity is also seen in two other ways. Firstly, the comparisons of the worldviews of the day of Moses and the biblical account, as we saw in our second journey of Genesis. And secondly, that God the Son, Jesus, came, died and was resurrected in order to save the pinnacle of creation – humans.

Human life is important. And although most worldviews claim this truth, the only worldview that holds water in this claim is the biblical account of creation. The truths that God directly created us, that he sent his Son to die for us, that he paused before creating us and that we are made Imago Dei all gives me the support to claim that human life is important. This is why a high view of Genesis is important for humans, because if we do not have a high view of ourselves and others, our actions and thoughts towards ourselves and others (particularly social equality and justice) will not be given too much significance either.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, please help us see ourselves and every human being through your eyes. That I and every person is not a random blip in time but that they are eternally loved by you, personally created and made in your Image. Amen

Our next journey will take us through

Genesis 1:28. Should we have a problem with sport hunting and support recycling?